It’s well worth noting that performances of this lively new musical start at 10.15pm, because it’s an indication of the kind of crowd at which it is aimed. This is theatre for the slightly tipsy, preferring in-jokes and easy laughs to subtlety or complexity.
With frisky songs by Yiannis Koutsakos and James Oban, and a fast-moving book by James Rottger, Ushers is a short and bouncy show that delights in the antics of some of the theatre world's chirpier front of house staff. It pokes fun at audience foibles and the inevitable nightmarish punters, while also indulging in some colourful mockery of blockbusters and corporate flimflam.
If comedy comes from the fledgling romance between affable Stephen (Ross McNeill) and nervy Lucy (Carly Thoms), there’s a note of poignancy in the connection between the apparently clownish Ben (Liam Ross-Mills) and the more soulful Gary (Daniel Buckley). Devious boss Robin (Ralph Bogard) stars in a series of cringeworthy videos about enhancing ‘customer experience’, while self-professed Twitter ninja Rosie (Ceris Hine) stalks leading men with undisguised glee.
The characterisation lacks depth and the plot is predictable, but this is a trivial show that knows it’s trivial – a camp little squib intended to bridge the gap between an evening in the pub and a night in a club. And on those terms, thanks to the vigorous ensemble and a few moments of genuinely cheeky staging, it succeeds.
Until April 19, (08444 930 650, ushersmusical.co.uk)
